The Art and Literature Reform was sparked by the Second Great Awakening in the early 1820s. The goal of the reform was to stray from English traditions and create a distinctive American touch on art and literature that was not tainted by their former "leaders".
At the time, the most popular novelist in America was Sir Walter Scott, an English Writer. Even as the Scott fanatics rose, there was an effort of wanting to create a distinctive American literature. The first great American novelist was James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote over thirty novels in three decades during the reform. As time passed, there was a new literary concern for work unleashing human emotions; however, the new works were not as optimistic, states Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick. American literature was similarly bleak with southern writers, especially Edgar Allen Poe, who wrote about the search for the essence of the human spirit. Other southern writers, excluding Poe, tended to write about their northern counterparts, thus defining the American society and nation. ................................................................................................................................................................................... Previously, American art was based on English traditions; however, the land lacked the same value/ideals for such traditions. In the first half of the nineteenth century, American art began to capture the landscape of the United States. Unlike England, American painters sought to capture the power of nature. A school was opened for painters, known as the Hudson River School. These painters announced the wisdom and spiritual fulfillment of America through the beauty of there works. The Hudson River painters traveled west, into the untouched landscape of America, and captured the beauty as they went. They painted Yellowstone, Yosemite Valley, the Rocky Mountains, and many more wondrous sights.
That being said it is believed that period seven is a horrible group of people who plagerize many of their topics from periods eight and five. They are cheaters and should be reprimanded as such and the painters and writers of the antebellum period would frown upon this.
Literature:
The authors below were the most influential during the reform.
James Fenimore Cooper
James was one of the first major authors in American history, where he changed views on writing novels from what the norm of writing was. That was to have sad depressing stories, he changed it to adventurous and lively stories about love and triumph of american life.
James Fenimore Cooper was one of the first successful authors of the Antebellum period. His first novel, Precaution, written in 1820, imitated Jane Austen's earlier stories, and was not very successful. However, his second book, The Spy, written in 1821, was extremely successful, bringing Cooper both fame and wealth and allowing him to give up farming as his primary source of income. Arguably Cooper's most notable work, The Last of the Mohicans was written as part of a series that took him more than twenty years to complete. The story has since been published into several different versions of Cooper's novel, a few of which have been made into movies as well.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph was a major poet whos ideas were majorly influenced by English poets but he added a new american style to his works. Emerson believed in individualism, non-conformity, and the need for harmony between man and nature where english works were of sad depressing stories.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a very successful poet of the Antebellum period. One of his first notable works was his first collection of essays entitled "Nature", and was his summary of his "soul searching" and his studies in philosophy and religion. He believed in individualism, the idea that people should be themselves, without conforming to the rest of society. He also thought that man should be "one with nature", meaning that nature provided more wisdom than society did, because society was all about fitting in with everyone around you, whereas nature was all about being yourself. Rather than a person's materialistic outside, he thought a person's best trait was their spiritual inner self. This belief became adopted as a major part of the Transcendentalist movement, making Emerson a major figure in this movement as well.
Henry David Thoreau
This artists works were more outspoken against slavery and used his novels to preach the importance of abolition and the freeing of slaves. His books were very popular in the north but in the south it was very much hated.
Henry David Thoreau was another major figure in the Transcendentalist movement, along with Ralph Waldo Emerson. He, too, did a lot of soul searching and studies with nature. In 1845, when Thoreau was only 28 years old, he went to Walden Pond, where he wanted to write his first novel. While he was there, he allowed himself to be "one with nature", as Emerson did, and could read and write many works, including his novel A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. After spending over two years at Walden Pond, he returned home, and continued to work on several drafts of his novel Walden, about his experiences at Walden Pond. Nine years later, popularity had increased and the book was published.
Margaret Fuller
Margaret was one of the only female writers in early america that had gained a reputation as one of the best writers, even teaming with Emerson and Thoreau on newspapers. She greatly influenced womens rights and continued to do so untill her tragic death.
Margaret Fuller was an Antebellum women's rights advocate, journalist, and critic who also played a role in the transcendentalism movement. Fuller began her career by becoming the editor of the transcendentalist newspaper called The Dial and later started working for the New York Tribune. Fuller was the first female correspondent for the New York Tribune and was sent on a trip to Europe by the paper company. While in Europe for four years, Fuller interviewed many famous authors and prominent figures in literature and sent over 37 reports back to the United States.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel was a very influecial writer that had lots of stuggles early on in writing but became famous with his childrens storys. He was friends with many Transdicendialists and used there thoughts and ideas in many of his later books. Hawthorne became one of the leading authors in Antebellum America because he strayed away from the normal ideas and topics, such as formalism, and instead explored the ideas of self and creative expression and the relationship to the natural world. Hawthorne and his wife lived in Concorde, Massachusetts, a Transcendentalist society, and adopted many of the transcendentalist ideas into his novels and stories. Some of Hawthorne's most famous works of literature include his gothic novels; The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of Seven Gables (1851), and his other romances; The Blithedale Romance (1852) and The Marble Faun (1860).
Herman Melville
Herman was a great writer for his ability to write captivating adventures that grabed the attention of americans. It showed the world that american liturature was diffrent from englands work by bringing out a new way to write.
Herman Melville was a poet, a novelist, a short story writer, and an essayist whose writing style became known as dark romanticism. Melville's most famous novels were Moby Dick (1851) and Billy Budd which he began writing in 1856 but was not published until after his death. Melville started off by writing novels and did not focus on getting any poems published until much later in his life. Melville's first few books were hits and best sellers, but after those successes Melville and his novels faded away.
Edgar Allen Poe
Edgar was the greatest novelist of america during his lifetime where he created works of poetry thst spoke deeply to america and gave it reason to be feared with his horror stories. He had a very unhappy life that influenced his writing to have unhappy endings or be very scary.
Edgar Allen Poe was a famous Antebellum author mainly because he did not write in the same style and genre as the other authors of the time period. While many of the other authors were focusing on romanticism and nature, Poe wrote more horror and mysterious poems. People were attracted to Poe's works because they examined the depths of the human psych and were just overall thrilling tales. Edgar Allen Poe mainly focused his writing on poetry rather than novels. Poe's poetry collection The Raven and other Poems (1845) gained him much popularity and made him more well-known. After that Poe released several very popular short stories such as "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846) and "Eureka"(1846).
Art:
Frederick Law Olmsted Hudson River School Frederick Church
These two great aritsts in Fredrick Law Olmsted and Fredrick Church brought forth a new way of painting that portrayed the uniqueness of american frontiers and was entirely diffrent than old english works. There paintings were very happy filled with vibrant colors and shades that expressed americas individuallity. The hudson river school was formed so that current and future artists had a place to share ideas and inspirations with others and to bring art out into the public as an interesting way of expressing ones self.
Thomas Cole- (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848) He was an artist who attended the Hudson River School.Also, in 1826 he founded the National Academy of Design in New York City. He's knows for many paintings but the main ones that he is most recognized by is Voyage of Life and the Course of Empire series. Another name that people call Cole is the white mountain artist because of all the paintings he did of the White mountains of New Hampshire. All of his painting are romantic in vein, just like most antebellum artists
Thomas Cole The Voage of Life 1842
Frederic Church- (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) he was an American landscape painter born in Hartford Connecticut. He as well as Cole, attended the Hudson River School for their artistic abilities. Church was the son of a very wealthy man so many things during the antebellum times came easy to him. In the 1850s and 60s he was one of America's most famous painters. The painting that are noted for which he became famous for are landscapes with a serene sense of light and space, showing natures true beauty without human beings. His career took off when he was in his twenties but by the time he was forty most taste of society in art had changed.
Frederic Church In the Andes, 1878
Asher Durand- (1796- 1886) Asher was the son of a watchmaker and silversmith. He attended the Hudson River School just like the previous artists mentioned above. He began as a portrait painter then a depression lead him to paint a lot of landscapes of the beautiful outdoors. He then became the second president of the National Academy of design in 1861.
Asher Durand - Dover Plains
There are not a crazy amount of artists from this time period that are really famous but there were many artists who just drew because of the time period around them. Many people during the Antebellum period soothing and going against society and doin g their own thing. They wanted to get away from the capitalist society that they lived in. Art was a way to release some of the stress that people were under. Many people during this time would just completely pack up and take their things and go live in the woods and open nature. The antebellum period is really when art began to take off and become popular. Before people were so worried about the government all the time and money and did not really see the beauty of nature.
Nature was key when it came to art. There are not many artist that you will find during the antebellum period who did not draw or paint about nature. Art was very successful throughout this time period and there were really no failures to art. The biggest success for the antebellum period involving art was the Hudson River School. Many great artists attended this school and it created a good amount of opportunities for others to start their own schools or own businesses which would then create even more jobs.It was very successful because everyone was doing it. Many people would just sit in their yard and paint or draw to get away from society for some time.Overall, art was very successful during the Antebellum time period.
Transcendentalism To read more on the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
Fine Arts To read more about literature and art in Antebellum America, with specifics not mentioned here.
Time line:
"Hudson River School In Autumn"
The names in italics are titles of books, newspapers, or magazines. Those in quotes are poems.
1820- Washington Irving, The Sketch Book
1823- Philadelphia completes the first urban water-supply system
1826- Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans
1831- Mount Auburn Cemetery Opens
1832- A cholera epidemic strikes the United States
1833- The New York Sun, the first penny newspaper, is established
1834- Cyrus McCormick patents the mechanical reaper.
1835- James Gordon Bennett establishes the New York Herald
1837- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The American Scholar"
1841- P.T. Barnum opens the American Museum
1842- Edgar Allen Poe, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
1844- Samuel F.B. Morse patents the telegraph / Poe, "The Raven"
1846- W.T.G. Morton successfully uses anesthesia / Elias Howe, Jr., patents the sewing machine
1849- Second major cholera epidemic........................................................................................................................
1850- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
1851- Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables / Herman Melville, Moby Dick
1852- Pennsylvania Railroad completes its line between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
1853- Ten small railroads are consolidated into the New York Central Railroad
1854- Henry David Thoreau- Walden
1855- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
1856- Pennsylvania Railroad completes Chicago link / Illinois Central completed between Chicago and Cairo, Illinois
1857- Baltimore-St. Louis rail service completed
1858- Frederick Law Olmsted is appointed architect-in-chief for Central Park
Art and Literature Reform
"Hudson River School"
Overview of the Reform:
The Art and Literature Reform was sparked by the Second Great Awakening in the early 1820s. The goal of the reform was to stray from English traditions and create a distinctive American touch on art and literature that was not tainted by their former "leaders".
At the time, the most popular novelist in America was Sir Walter Scott, an English Writer. Even as the Scott fanatics rose, there was an effort of wanting to create a distinctive American literature. The first great American novelist was James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote over thirty novels in three decades during the reform. As time passed, there was a new literary concern for work unleashing human emotions; however, the new works were not as optimistic, states Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick. American literature was similarly bleak with southern writers, especially Edgar Allen Poe, who wrote about the search for the essence of the human spirit. Other southern writers, excluding Poe, tended to write about their northern counterparts, thus defining the American society and nation. ...................................................................................................................................................................................
Previously, American art was based on English traditions; however, the land lacked the same value/ideals for such traditions. In the first half of the nineteenth century, American art began to capture the landscape of the United States. Unlike England, American painters sought to capture the power of nature. A school was opened for painters, known as the Hudson River School. These painters announced the wisdom and spiritual fulfillment of America through the beauty of there works. The Hudson River painters traveled west, into the untouched landscape of America, and captured the beauty as they went. They painted Yellowstone, Yosemite Valley, the Rocky Mountains, and many more wondrous sights.
That being said it is believed that period seven is a horrible group of people who plagerize many of their topics from periods eight and five. They are cheaters and should be reprimanded as such and the painters and writers of the antebellum period would frown upon this.
Literature:
The authors below were the most influential during the reform.James Fenimore Cooper
James was one of the first major authors in American history, where he changed views on writing novels from what the norm of writing was. That was to have sad depressing stories, he changed it to adventurous and lively stories about love and triumph of american life.
James Fenimore Cooper was one of the first successful authors of the Antebellum period. His first novel, Precaution, written in 1820, imitated Jane Austen's earlier stories, and was not very successful. However, his second book, The Spy, written in 1821, was extremely successful, bringing Cooper both fame and wealth and allowing him to give up farming as his primary source of income. Arguably Cooper's most notable work, The Last of the Mohicans was written as part of a series that took him more than twenty years to complete. The story has since been published into several different versions of Cooper's novel, a few of which have been made into movies as well.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph was a major poet whos ideas were majorly influenced by English poets but he added a new american style to his works. Emerson believed in individualism, non-conformity, and the need for harmony between man and nature where english works were of sad depressing stories.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a very successful poet of the Antebellum period. One of his first notable works was his first collection of essays entitled "Nature", and was his summary of his "soul searching" and his studies in philosophy and religion. He believed in individualism, the idea that people should be themselves, without conforming to the rest of society. He also thought that man should be "one with nature", meaning that nature provided more wisdom than society did, because society was all about fitting in with everyone around you, whereas nature was all about being yourself. Rather than a person's materialistic outside, he thought a person's best trait was their spiritual inner self. This belief became adopted as a major part of the Transcendentalist movement, making Emerson a major figure in this movement as well.
Henry David Thoreau
This artists works were more outspoken against slavery and used his novels to preach the importance of abolition and the freeing of slaves. His books were very popular in the north but in the south it was very much hated.
Henry David Thoreau was another major figure in the Transcendentalist movement, along with Ralph Waldo Emerson. He, too, did a lot of soul searching and studies with nature. In 1845, when Thoreau was only 28 years old, he went to Walden Pond, where he wanted to write his first novel. While he was there, he allowed himself to be "one with nature", as Emerson did, and could read and write many works, including his novel A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. After spending over two years at Walden Pond, he returned home, and continued to work on several drafts of his novel Walden, about his experiences at Walden Pond. Nine years later, popularity had increased and the book was published.
Margaret Fuller
Margaret was one of the only female writers in early america that had gained a reputation as one of the best writers, even teaming with Emerson and Thoreau on newspapers. She greatly influenced womens rights and continued to do so untill her tragic death.
Margaret Fuller was an Antebellum women's rights advocate, journalist, and critic who also played a role in the transcendentalism movement. Fuller began her career by becoming the editor of the transcendentalist newspaper called The Dial and later started working for the New York Tribune. Fuller was the first female correspondent for the New York Tribune and was sent on a trip to Europe by the paper company. While in Europe for four years, Fuller interviewed many famous authors and prominent figures in literature and sent over 37 reports back to the United States.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel was a very influecial writer that had lots of stuggles early on in writing but became famous with his childrens storys. He was friends with many Transdicendialists and used there thoughts and ideas in many of his later books.
Hawthorne became one of the leading authors in Antebellum America because he strayed away from the normal ideas and topics, such as formalism, and instead explored the ideas of self and creative expression and the relationship to the natural world. Hawthorne and his wife lived in Concorde, Massachusetts, a Transcendentalist society, and adopted many of the transcendentalist ideas into his novels and stories. Some of Hawthorne's most famous works of literature include his gothic novels; The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of Seven Gables (1851), and his other romances; The Blithedale Romance (1852) and The Marble Faun (1860).
Herman Melville
Herman was a great writer for his ability to write captivating adventures that grabed the attention of americans. It showed the world that american liturature was diffrent from englands work by bringing out a new way to write.
Herman Melville was a poet, a novelist, a short story writer, and an essayist whose writing style became known as dark romanticism. Melville's most famous novels were Moby Dick (1851) and Billy Budd which he began writing in 1856 but was not published until after his death. Melville started off by writing novels and did not focus on getting any poems published until much later in his life. Melville's first few books were hits and best sellers, but after those successes Melville and his novels faded away.
Edgar Allen Poe
Edgar was the greatest novelist of america during his lifetime where he created works of poetry thst spoke deeply to america and gave it reason to be feared with his horror stories. He had a very unhappy life that influenced his writing to have unhappy endings or be very scary.
Edgar Allen Poe was a famous Antebellum author mainly because he did not write in the same style and genre as the other authors of the time period. While many of the other authors were focusing on romanticism and nature, Poe wrote more horror and mysterious poems. People were attracted to Poe's works because they examined the depths of the human psych and were just overall thrilling tales. Edgar Allen Poe mainly focused his writing on poetry rather than novels. Poe's poetry collection The Raven and other Poems (1845) gained him much popularity and made him more well-known. After that Poe released several very popular short stories such as "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846) and "Eureka"(1846).
Art:
Frederick Law Olmsted
Hudson River School
Frederick Church
These two great aritsts in Fredrick Law Olmsted and Fredrick Church brought forth a new way of painting that portrayed the uniqueness of american frontiers and was entirely diffrent than old english works. There paintings were very happy filled with vibrant colors and shades that expressed americas individuallity. The hudson river school was formed so that current and future artists had a place to share ideas and inspirations with others and to bring art out into the public as an interesting way of expressing ones self.
Thomas Cole- (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848) He was an artist who attended the Hudson River School.Also, in 1826 he founded the National Academy of Design in New York City. He's knows for many paintings but the main ones that he is most recognized by is Voyage of Life and the Course of Empire series. Another name that people call Cole is the white mountain artist because of all the paintings he did of the White mountains of New Hampshire. All of his painting are romantic in vein, just like most antebellum artists
Frederic Church- (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) he was an American landscape painter born in Hartford Connecticut. He as well as Cole, attended the Hudson River School for their artistic abilities. Church was the son of a very wealthy man so many things during the antebellum times came easy to him. In the 1850s and 60s he was one of America's most famous painters. The painting that are noted for which he became famous for are landscapes with a serene sense of light and space, showing natures true beauty without human beings. His career took off when he was in his twenties but by the time he was forty most taste of society in art had changed.
Asher Durand- (1796- 1886) Asher was the son of a watchmaker and silversmith. He attended the Hudson River School just like the previous artists mentioned above. He began as a portrait painter then a depression lead him to paint a lot of landscapes of the beautiful outdoors. He then became the second president of the National Academy of design in 1861.
There are not a crazy amount of artists from this time period that are really famous but there were many artists who just drew because of the time period around them. Many people during the Antebellum period soothing and going against society and doin
g their own thing. They wanted to get away from the capitalist society that they lived in. Art was a way to release some of the stress that people were under. Many people during this time would just completely pack up and take their things and go live in the woods and open nature. The antebellum period is really when art began to take off and become popular. Before people were so worried about the government all the time and money and did not really see the beauty of nature.
Nature was key when it came to art. There are not many artist that you will find during the antebellum period who did not draw or paint about nature. Art was very successful throughout this time period and there were really no failures to art. The biggest success for the antebellum period involving art was the Hudson River School. Many great artists attended this school and it created a good amount of opportunities for others to start their own schools or own businesses which would then create even more jobs.It was very successful because everyone was doing it. Many people would just sit in their yard and paint or draw to get away from society for some time.Overall, art was very successful during the Antebellum time period.
Helpful Links:
History of American Renaissance
This site has an overview of the entire reform, with specifics not mentioned above.
Library of Southern Literature
Further reading on Southern authors and their novels.
Transcendentalism
To read more on the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
Fine Arts
To read more about literature and art in Antebellum America, with specifics not mentioned here.
Time line:
The names in italics are titles of books, newspapers, or magazines. Those in quotes are poems.
1820- Washington Irving, The Sketch Book
1823- Philadelphia completes the first urban water-supply system
1826- Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans
1831- Mount Auburn Cemetery Opens
1832- A cholera epidemic strikes the United States
1833- The New York Sun, the first penny newspaper, is established
1834- Cyrus McCormick patents the mechanical reaper.
1835- James Gordon Bennett establishes the New York Herald
1837- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The American Scholar"
1841- P.T. Barnum opens the American Museum
1842- Edgar Allen Poe, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
1844- Samuel F.B. Morse patents the telegraph / Poe, "The Raven"
1846- W.T.G. Morton successfully uses anesthesia / Elias Howe, Jr., patents the sewing machine
1849- Second major cholera epidemic........................................................................................................................
1850- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
1851- Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables / Herman Melville, Moby Dick
1852- Pennsylvania Railroad completes its line between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
1853- Ten small railroads are consolidated into the New York Central Railroad
1854- Henry David Thoreau- Walden
1855- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
1856- Pennsylvania Railroad completes Chicago link / Illinois Central completed between Chicago and Cairo, Illinois
1857- Baltimore-St. Louis rail service completed
1858- Frederick Law Olmsted is appointed architect-in-chief for Central Park